Maine man airlifted after pile-up with U-Haul, tanker, car and pickup  

This story has been updated.

A crash involving a chain reaction pile-up of four vehicles sent one driver to the hospital by helicopter and closed the southbound lanes of the Maine Turnpike in Scarborough on Friday evening.

Police learned of the crash near mile marker 42 at about 6:04 p.m. after receiving numerous reports.

Traffic was already congested in the area because of other crashes, when a U-Haul driven by Jason McAvoy, 59, of Old Orchard Beach, hit a tanker truck driven by Kenneth Openshaw of Massachusetts, Maine State Police Lt. Aaron Turcotte said.

The force of the collision pushed the tanker forward into a Subaru driven by Thomas Gillis, 32, also of Old Orchard Beach, whose car then rear-ended a Dodge Ram driven by Zachary Taylor, 31, of Searsmont.

Police found McAvoy trapped inside the U-Haul. Emergency workers extracted him, and he was flown by LifeFlight helicopter to Maine Medical Center in Portland, Turcotte said. Other drivers were treated at the scene.

Investigators believe driver fatigue and inattention were the main contributing factors to the crash, Turcotte said.